the epilogue

one word...cheeeeehooooooo!  

31 days of continuous blogging & i've successfully completed my august challenge.  am i proud of myself?!  hells yeah!  turns out that daily blogging was a lot easier than i thought it would be.  i think the key is to just be yourself and write about whatever tickles your fancy at the moment.  some entries were probably more interesting than others but who gives?!  five years from now, it will be fun to come back and read all the crap i've written.  hah.

they say it takes three weeks to develop a habit.  we'll test the theory and see if i continue blogging daily.  there are some big events that i'm forecasting in the next few weeks so i'm hoping that i won't get sidetracked.

tomorrow starts the september challenge.  i'm deactivating my facebook and twitter accounts tomorrow.  and then i'm going to focus on cleaning my office and getting current on all my filing and paperwork!  definitely boring stuff but it needs to get done before another year goes by!

happy eve of september!

need a new mouth pad?

found this gem at marukai today.  for only $1...you, too, can be the owner of a brand new computer mouth pad.  bonus if you like anime.

oh, how i love good ol' engrish.  makes me miss japan even more.

my blogroll

i wouldn't be able to keep up with my blog reading without a blogroll!  the blogroll lists the latest post from each blogger eliminating the need to manually check for updates daily (or hourly, if you're that crazy).  

there's a link to my blogroll in the left margin of this page as well as the "blogs i heart" tab up above!  go check it out...you might find something you like!

why hawaii needs an ikea

oh-em-gee!  i spent the weekend searching high and low for a desk for my new computer and came up empty handed.  the criteria was white (or a cute pastel color...nothing dark!) with a keyboard pull-out tray...and $200 or under per the hubby.  it didn't even need to be adjustable height.  sounds simple enough, eh?!  

here's a summary of where i went and what i found...or if you don't feel like reading all the details and feeling sorry for me, just scroll down to the cliff notes.

• craigslist - nothing white.  i could get something and paint it but i'm not in the diy mood right now :D
• pacific home - my favorite store for white furniture.  two semi-possibilities but waaaaaaay out of the budget.
• ashley furniture (formerly deZign home) - nothing white in the entire store.  do people only put dark furniture in their homes?
• fish cake - no desks but i saw a great DIY desk in the back where the boy jelly (hawaii's first coworking space) is.  they bought table legs from city mill, spray painted them, and added a plywood top.  i might do this but i'm worried about the possibility of the plywood bowing and causing a catastrophic disaster to my hot new monitor.
• furniture store next door to fish cake - nothing white but some super cute colored furniture.
• walmart - nothing white.
• honolulu design center/inspiration - one simple, white desk in the kids section but no keyboard tray; slightly over budget.  but, i did see the coolest adjustable desk ever, complete with a motorized motor!!!  it was awesome but $1500 for the floor model, $2200 for a brand new one and wasn't available in white.  but check it out here.
• city mill kaimuki - one simple, white desk but you have to purchase the chair, too.  no keyboard tray and didn't want to pay $200 for something that's only worth $100.
• city mill nimitz - same selection as kaimuki location.
• office depot ward - nothing white.
• office depot dillingham - same selection as ward store.
• fisher hawaii - nothing white but i saw the perfect desk in black so they're going to see if they can bring in a white one but i'll have to wait 8 weeks or so :(
• cs wo - cute desk from Young America but not $1500 cute.
• homeworld - $399 for a white washed teak veneered desk.  a little over budget but may have considered it if it was solid wood since it was cute and had a keyboard tray.
• hawaii discount furniture - one white desk but overpriced and came with a chair.

CLIFF NOTES:  

• 99.9% of hawaii families must have brown/black/dark colored furniture.
• white furniture is reserved for kids....kinda ironic considering kids will most likely draw all over their desks, dressers, etc.
• if you open a reasonably inexpensive furniture store that sells white furniture, you should do well.
• hawaii needs an ikea badly!

i wish i could purchase something online but the shipping is horrendous.  oh, the price we pay to live in paradise.  bleh.

it's confirmed...

...my love affair with seafood, especially sushi, will not resume until sometime after september 18, when i take a follow-up blood test to see if my mercury level has dropped.   

it's a total bummer but i guess i should be happy that my level was only slightly higher than the accepted value of 10 or less.  i was actually predicting the level to be closer to 25 based on the amount of ahi that i was eating in the last few months.  i guess i will seriously heed my doctor's orders to eat no more than two serving of seafood a week once my levels go down to an acceptable level.

btw, the hubby corrected me tonight...his level was actually 95 mcg/L...even higher than the 90 that i blogged about earlier.  ai-yah.

rubber & wax

i went to the dentist yesterday for my monthly invisalign appointment.  i finished my upper trays two months ago but my right lateral (laterals are the teeth to the left and right of your two front teeth) did not engage properly so my dentist put hooks on the front and back of the tooth and now i have to wear a rubber band to help move the tooth down.

the picture doesn't show the rubber bands very clearly but they're 1/8" and SUPER TINY.  i had the hardest time getting the damn thing on my tooth the first couple of times. last night, while i was sleeping, the rubber band popped off and i almost swallowed it!

the hook on the inside of the tooth is kinda big and when i chew, it hits my bottom teeth so i feel like i'm biting on an extra tooth.  maybe this isn't the best explanation but trust me, it's a weird feeling.

the little hooks are also kinda sharp and started ripping the inside of my mouth.  i tried filing the hook with a nail file but it didn't work.  tonight, i remembered that i was given dental wax when i first started invisalign so i dug that baby up and plastered it all over the hook and it feels sooooo much better.  yay!  now i have to pray that the wax and rubber band don't come off when i go to bed tonight...and if it does, i hope i don't swallow or choke on it!

i am currently on tray 19 of 24 for my lower teeth...three more months to go!  and then retainers for the rest of my life.  gah.  the things we do for vanity >.<

*  *  *

today, the tiramisu had her first dental appointment.  she wasn't very happy about it but we got through it.  she has a total of 16 teeth and he thinks she'll have her four molars in by the time she's 2-1/2!  everything looked great but he said her teeth are kinda close together so i should floss them everyday o_O.  i'm going to attempt to start the flossing tomorrow.  he also said that because the hubby and i both had/have orthodontics, she will most likely require them.  grrrrreat.

keep yo' hands to yourself

the tiramisu had a really rough day at the doctor's office yesterday for her 15-month well baby visit :(  the older she gets, the more aware she is. and now, she really hates being handled by the nurses and doctor, whom i'm guessing she views as strangers. she was crying and screaming the entire time and it took three of us to hold her down to examine her and remove her ear wax (she got the excessive ear wax gene from her daddy).  and then to top it all off, she had three shots.  by the time it was all done, she was hot, red and exhausted and just wanted mommy to hold her.  her face in the photo above says it all :(  

i took her to the waiting room and held her until she calmed down so she wouldn't be upset on the car ride home.  surprisingly, after about five minutes, she wanted down and walked to the play area!  she was all smiles until a strange lady came into the clinic.  she had the nerve to tell me that i'm "too nice" to my little princess and then she started touching the tiramisu's face!!! OMG!  i am a major germaphobe and i was already freaking out about the sick kids who must've touched the toys prior to the tiramisu and now i have to deal with this strange lady and her who-knows-where-her-hands-have-been hands.  i quickly scooped the princess up, grabbed our belongings and made our way out of the office.  we jumped in the car, i wiped her hands and face, and she fell asleep on the way home and then for 2-1/2 more hours!  my poor baby was super exhausted.

it still baffles me that complete strangers think it's okay to touch someone else's child!!!  it's even worse than strangers who think it's completely kosher to touch a pregnant woman's belly.  gahhhhh >.<

*  *  *
flu season is just around the corner!  the tiramisu got her shot yesterday, i got my flu shot today and encourage you to get yours asap!

louboutins for toddlers?

my daughter's feet are growing exponentially by the day!  one day the shoe fits, the next day it's too small.  she's only 15 months young and she's already wearing a size 6 or 7 depending on the brand of shoe.  

finding toddler shoes in hawaii is like searching for a needle in a haystack.  i have been looking specifically for Stride Rite shoes and the only place that carries them is Nordstrom but the sizes and selection are so limited.  bleh.  so, i ended up going to Zappos.com (always free return shipping -- cheeehoooo!) and purchased four pairs of Stride Rite's and two pairs of Keens in various sizes and styles to see what works for her.  

i love the silver Stride Rites shown above but the size 6 is too small and i can't find them anywhere online in something bigger :(  it's sooooo heartbreaking because these are also the shoes that the tiramisu loves the most.  when she saw the shoes for the first time, her eyes lit up and she kept trying to put them on her feet.  we finally got them on and they were a snug fit but she was so proud of them that she was beaming from ear to ear as she walked around the house.  what a bummer. 

so, by default, i've narrowed it down to the pink & gray Keens sandals (far left) and the pink & purple mary janes from Stride Rite (second from the right).

this crazy shoe search has inspired me to quit blogging and spend my extra time designing a shoe that grows with the child because it seems a bit ridiculous that tiny little shoes for little people cost more than the shoes i wear!  while i'm at it, maybe i'll commission Mr. Louboutin to design a posh shoe for designer toddlers ;)  

please stand up to read this post

a BIG box arrived in today's mail and i can't wait to open it!  but first, i need to get a stand up desk!  oh, how i wish we had an ikea here.  if i can't find a stand up desk, i'll probably end up putting a regular desk on risers or build something suitable for my new piece of machinery.

why a stand up desk?!  because sitting kills as reported quite frequently in the media these days.  here are a few articles to check out if this is news to you!  

http://mashable.com/2011/05/09/sitting-down-infographic/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39523298/ns/health-mens_health/t/why-your-desk-job-slowly-killing-you/

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/menshealth/most-dangerous-thing-youll-do-all-day

ps - this post was typed while standing :)

faux-tography

these days, almost everyone owns a DSLR camera.  but just because you own one and watermark all your pictures with "my name photography" does not mean you're a professional photographer!  i'm just saying ;)

i've been loving using my iphone to take blog pictures because it totally simplifies things...snap photo, crop & apply instagram filter, email and done!  it really makes for some great faux-tography.  you can even get the latest and greatest faux-vintage* look in seconds!  i'll admit...i've come to love this look myself.  not sure if it will be cool in 10 years, though.

*i find it a little ironic that we are in constant search for the highest resolution cameras but then post-process the images to look old/faded/washed-out.  who popularized this look, anyway?  baffling!  perhaps it's a psychological thing where the faux-vintage photos take people back to the good ol' days, when life was much simpler blah blah blah...i think they call it nostalgia.  heh.

21 bottles of beer on the wall...

...21 bottles of beer...take one down...pass it around...20 bottles of beer on the wall!

who would've thunk that a pathetic blogger like me could actually blog for 21 days straight?!  i'm pretty amazed that i haven't missed a day since i proposed this challenge on the first of the month.  using iphone photos (it's soooo easy to snap a quick picture with a camera phone) has really made the blog fest more doable.  i also made it a priority to treat the blog like a job like sara, blogger extraordinaire and mother-of-four, does.  there are times when i'm so tired, like now, and i would rather go to sleep but i know that i must do this so i don't fail my personal challenge >.<  

here's to ten more fun-filled blogging days!  it's going to fly by and hopefully you're still interested in reading my little world of minutiae :)

btw - christmas is only 124 days away!  124 days!!!!  the decorations are going up on november 1st and i cannot wait! 

gazen

damn, going to an izakaya as a vegetarian (who loves fish but isn't eating any) is complete torture! tonight, we ended up at Gazen due to proximity and because we couldn't make the last call at the homemade soba restaurant, Matsugen.  

here's what i had:

A - tofu & jako salad with ponzu sauce (jako are tiny little fish that were scattered throughout the dish...i didn't see them but i must've ingested them so technically, i wasn't a complete vegetarian tonight).

B - sweet potato mochi w/ vanilla ice cream for dessert.  the hubby had the warabi mochi w/ green tea ice cream shown.

C - the homemade tofu sampler which included my favorite, the black sesame tofu, shown on the right of the photo.

D - avocado & avocado spring rolls (in lieu of avocado & ahi).

E - agedashi tofu mochi in a warm bonito broth.

*  *  *

btw, i took my mercury toxicity test last week and hope to have the results by the end of next week.  i'm very curious to see what my level is.  

blog voyeurism

i love reading blogs.  it's like reality tv but in the internet form.  maybe even akin to a peek into someone's secret diary.  often, it's a chance to live vicariously.  i find lots of inspiration in blogs and luckily, my body's requirement for LOTS of sleep to function on a daily basis controls a blog-reading penchant that could spiral out of control. 

anywho, today, i'm going to update the blogs i read tab!  i have all my blogs separated into categories and since it's 1131 pm, i'm going to start with the shortest list...the style blogs!  i'm definitely not one for style, especially post-prego, but someday i will be as stylish as these gals.  shut up, tara.

scratch that thought.  just tried to load the blogroll but it appears that it will take more than the 20 minutes i have left to post before the day is over.  maybe tomorrow.

*  *  *

update on the intestine cake:
while i should've thrown the cake away because surely, i wasn't going to eat it, i packed it in a plastic container and left it on the counter.  when i woke up this morning, i noticed that a third of it was gone.  the hubby said he took it to work and ate it for breakfast.  haha.  he either:

A.  has dead taste buds
B.  was starving 
C. pretended to like and/or eat it so i wouldn't feel like crap and continue to cook/bake for him as requested. 
D.  all of the above

the intestine cake

remember this post on the dreamy yuzu chiffon cake that the hubby has been longing for? 

let's just say this $#(! made me bananas.

1.  i should've studied the recipe for the yuzu chiffon cake PRIOR to making this fine masterpiece.

2.  all the units in the recipe are in metric!  whose idea was it to create a U.S. system of weights and measures when the rest of the world uses metric?!  i had a hell of time figuring out whether grams of an ingredient should be measured by weight or volume. i ended up using volume since my measuring cup had both.  i have a hunch that some things should be measured in volume while others by weight.

3.  whipping egg whites by hand is EXTREMELY tiring.  i broke a sweat and my arms almost fell off.  or maybe it's because i'm just out of shape.  anywho, when a recipe says to use an electric mixer, they really mean it!  and how much egg white foam are you supposed to create anyway?

4.  step 3 says to "add the remaining mixture and beat till stiff peak form."  wtf does this mean?!?!  i beat the hell out of the egg white mixture before my arms went numb but it never really turned "stiff."

5.  step 5 was to "bake at 160 degrees for 40-45 minutes."  while preheating the oven, i thought it was weird that the lowest temperature shown on the dial was just under 200 degrees.  when 20 minutes passed by, i took a peak to see how my beautiful cake was rising but it looked pretty much the same as when i poured it into the pan.  i did a quick google search for another yuzu chiffon cake recipe and found one that said to bake at 160 degree celsius.  #$(@%*@(#%*!(%  yes, call me stupid.  so anyway, i converted the C to Fahrenheit, turned up the heat to 225 degrees and then re-started the timer.

6.  i couldn't find a chiffon pan so i bought whatever Macy's had that was round with a hole in the center.  the recipe called for a 18 cm chiffon pan or about 7 inches.  my pan was 9 inches.  and it's one of those non-stick coated pans which probably threw everything off even more because it attracts so much heat.  i vaguely remember reading eons ago that the temperature needs to be lower when you use non-stick pans.


*  *  *
i don't accept failure very well so i will conquer this p.o.s. chiffon cake next week. stay tuned.

can you hear me now?

my mom and i are on a family cell phone plan and she uses most of the minutes.  she talks to her friends and siblings alllll the time -- while cooking, cleaning, pulling weeds, walking, etc.  i honestly make less than two (maybe not even one) call a month just to chat and catch up with friends...but, i spend many HOURS emailing, instant messaging and text messaging.  it's actually kinda sad.

i love the internet and technology and all the great things they offer but it has changed the way we live and i am definitely a victim of its "impersonal-ness."  are we really too busy to pick up the phone and call a friend to see how they're doing?  are we really too busy to answer the phone when a friend calls, now that we all have caller id and can screen calls as they arrive?  are we really too busy to return a phone call rather than texting to ask what the person wanted?  are we really too busy to sit down and write a letter or send a card?  

and the ironic thing is that most of the emailing, instant messaging and text messaging...and why don't we throw in social media (facebook, twitter, etc) while we're at it...happens during work time, on someone else's dime!!!

starting this weekend, i'm going to make a conscious effort to write at least one letter/card or make one phone call to a friend.  as much as i love instant gratification, checking email and hearing my phone go "ding" with every new text message, nothing beats receiving a handwritten card/letter in the mail or having a real, live verbal conversation!  i might even fold my notes in a cute origami heart and color it in crayola markers, just like we did in intermediate school ;)  

if you'd like a letter from me, text or email me.  hahah. 

too much of anything is never a good thing

It's 11:09 pm and I'm blogging from my iPhone as I try to put the little to bed.  If there's one thing you can count on with having a baby...it would be that things don't always go as planned. Don't know if it was alllllll the tofu she had for dinner (she ate half the block), gas (baby farts are the cutest and she was definitely ripping it up) or teething...or a combination of all three but she was unusually fussy while trying to go to bed tonight.  And then she started crying when I left her room and then i heard a bit of coughing and knew that it was going to be a long night.  I went back to her room to check on her and sure enough, she caused herself to barf up her dinner! Grrrrreat.

I tried to bathe her but she totally fought the bath so we just changed her pajamas and washed her face.  It took me over an hour to remove her crib sheet, mattress protector, and crib bumper and spray off all the smelly barf remnants...all while trying not to barf myself. If you aren't familiar with the smell of sour milk, it's truly a smell that you can only tolerate if it's your own kid and even then, it's tough. She is now lying in her crib with fresh sheets and crib bumper and is trying to fall asleep as I type away.

At least this forces me to wash her usual Serena & Lily wren crib bumper (that i love love love) which otherwise may not have been washed for months :). You can always find good in everything if you look hard enough...even if it's between curds of sour milk and tofu barf.

gmo or hybrid?!

went to costco today and came across these lovely pluots!  pluot = plum + apricot.

i'm not a super organic or health food nut but i try to buy local first and organic when possible.  i went to costco the other day and bought some frozen organic broccoli. turns out the damn thing was manufactured in china!  i don't normally return food items but i did return this because i was so disappointed >.<  

anywho, besides looking for local and organic stuff, i've found that it's important to pay attention to genetically modified organisms (GMO).  i recently started reading up on GMOs and they are pretty scary.  and it's even scarier that we're all ingesting them without even knowing it.  fruits like pluots fall under hybrid fruits/veggies and are supposed to be "safe" but i need to do more research on it.  for now, i'm just going to enjoy them because they're so sweet and delicious :)

if you're bored and have 30 minutes to spare and live in hawaii, you may want to watch this video on GMOs in Hawaii.  pretty nuts.

semi-productive

unfortunately, i never got around to getting a chiffon pan today so the yuzu thing-a-ma-bob is going to have to wait a few days.

but, i did finally get around to washing and sterilizing a gazillion nipples, bottles, training cups, and miscellaneous breast pump paraphernalia. 

everything was organized into two 66 qt containers and is waiting to be put in storage right next to the three pack-n-plays, baby swing, two play gyms, infant carseat and stroller, boxes and boxes of infant clothes, etc.  i really need a room just to hold all this baby stuff.  holy crap.  

it's exciting to move onto toddler-hood but my baby is growing up way. too. quickly. definitely bittersweet.  

mexican chiffon cake

the hubby has been asking me for weeks to bake a yuzu chiffon cake.  we fell in love with yuzu in japan many years ago and always try to get our hands on anything yuzu. 

he found this recipe online and  we went to the grocery store today to purchase whatever we didn't have, which ended up being two mystery ingredients...caster sugar and corn flour.  

i don't bake much and definitely not from scratch.  google says that caster sugar is a super fine sugar...but it's not powdered sugar.  we looked high and low...no such thing at times supermarket.  another quick google search said that you can use plain, white sugar but it may take longer to melt.  or you can grind white sugar in a mixer but let it settle before opening up the cover or be prepared to inhale sugar dust. grrrrrreat.

and then came the "corn flour."  there were two options on the shelf -- corn "flour" and corn "meal."  i kept asking myself about using either in a chiffon cake.  the description on the "corn flour" bag says it's for making tortillas, tamales, empanadas, gorditas, etc.   chiffon cakes kinda fit between the tamales and empanadas, right?! so we bought it.

when i got home, i looked for other recipes just to confirm the use of "corn flour" and concluded that "corn flour" is actually supposed to be "corn starch."  this is what happens when people in different parts of the world call things by different names and you don't do your due diligence beforehand.  duh!

and for some reason, i never thought that the circle in the middle of a chiffon cake had a purpose.  turns out that the hole in the pan is used for air circulation during baking and for cooling the cake upside-down afterwards.  i had planned to use a plain rectangular baking pan for my "cake" but thought i better look up this last detail as well.  thank goodness i don't own a chiffon pan.  this (and google) saved me from making a mexican chiffon cake tonight!

you learn something new everyday.

say cheese!

top row - self-portrait, her right arm, shirt close-up
middle row - living room cabinet, self-portrait, hardwood floors
bottom row - shirt action shot, mystery close-up, self-portrait

this has got to be the funniest thing ever!  the tiramisu hijacked my iphone today while i was doing the dishes.  she was running all over the house with it,  laughing and pressing buttons.

tonight, while looking for a photo on my phone, i came across a bunch of pictures that i know i didn't take.  

evidently, she took all these pictures herself!!!    hahah!  she even managed to turn on the front camera and took some self portraits.  yes, i'm a bit biased...but she is so adorably cute and funny!  i loooooove her!!

mercury poisoning?!

mercury sushi combo from sushi ii, one of my fave sushi joints!

today i said goodbye to my beloved friends in the ocean as i embark on a one month journey of vegetarianism.

the hubby and i have always eaten a LOT of sea creatures.    the hubby wasn't feeling "normal" a few weeks ago so he had a bunch of tests done, including a heavy metal toxicity screen.  the results for mercury just came back at 90 µg/L or more than 11 times the accepted "norm" of <8 µg/L.  the doctor ordered him completely off of seafood for 1 month and then he'll have a re-check to see if some of the mercury was eliminated from his body.  omg.

this was crazy news and it scared me a little so i decided to get off of sea critters myself for one month to detox :)  although i have been trying to eat smaller fish (fish that fits in a small pan from head to toe) and smaller servings of ahi and other large fish since i'm still pumping breastmilk, i asked the doctor to write me an order for a mercury screening test next week.  better safe than sorry!  gah, i hope that i'm not a walking thermometer, too.

the pillow rule

i have 20 minutes to post something before the clock strikes 12!

jasmyn was already in bed when i got out of the shower and realized what time it was...and i didn't know what i was going to blog about tonight...so i snapped a quick photo of her with my iphone.

our pampered pooch has always loved to sleep with her head on a pillow.  she has been doing this since the first day we brought her home at 8 weeks.  how do our furry companions learn to do this?  i have no idea but they all seem to do it!

i find it interesting, however, that our other princess (the tiramisu) is not allowed to sleep with a pillow until the age of 2.  and then you have to slowly introduce the right-sized pillow, blah blah blah, to make sure the kid doesn't suffocate or hurt their neck.  she already likes putting her head down on jazzy's pillows and other soft things in the house.  i think she learned this from jasmyn.  she used to also try to drink water out of jazzy's water bowl.  hah.  hopefully she doesn't start barking when she wants something, although the hubby would probably say that all the females in the house bark loudly when they want to have their way.  how rude.

bb cream, yo!

when people find out that i'm korean, the first question they ask me is whether or not i watch k-dramas!  no, i don't.  in fact, i hardly watch any tv, but i am highly aware of how beautiful the korean women are and how flawless their skin is!  

wanna know the secret to getting their perfect, porcelain skin?!

yes, that's adhesive on the cover that i failed to remove properly.
oh, that's also a BB cream fingerprint on the tube.  ooops. 

BB Cream!!!  

according to a great article on squidoo, BB cream, or "blemish balm cream" was originally concocted in Germany for laser skin surgery patients.  somehow, it made its way to Korea... specifically, into the hands of gorgeous Korean actresses who are pretty much responsible for the BB cream phenomena...and then to Japan and Southeast Asia and now is pretty much everywhere including Europe and the United States.  

BB cream is a miracle cream and the stuff is so good that it comes in one tint but magically adjusts to the skin color of the person wearing it!  some of its other great features are listed below (from squidoo article above):

• Produces a very natural, "no makeup look"
• Provides perfect coverage like a foundation would but since it's not as thick, it doesn't clog the pores
• Works pretty much like a tinted moisturizer
• Conceals all types of pigmentation, discoloration, acne and other blemishes
• Has healing properties that soften, smoothen and refine skin
• Encourages skin regeneration to create and maintain youthful skin
• Contains UV Protection for healthy skin (SPF levels differ for each brand/product)

after reading about the stuff and listening to my mom rave about it for years, i finally asked her to get me some (i can use all the help i can get for my post-prego skin). i've been applying it over my moisturizer and under my liquid foundation and so far, i like it!  the one i use is from Atomy (pictured above), a Korean brand which you can purchase in the US through a membership-only program (goooo Korean$).  it's 100% all-natural (as are all Atomy products) and according to my mama, it's the best one she's ever used!  

now go out and get yourself some BB cream, yo!

perspective

sorry for the blurry picture but it was taken in a dimly lit room with my iphone.
can you guess what dish this is at Roy's?

i can't believe that i nearly forgot that today is our wedding anniversary!  had it not been for a facebook post about the symbolism of "double eight" (88), i would've totally forgotten!  hah!  this is another good reason why i'm glad that the universe didn't tell me to start my fb challenge this month.  hehe.

we initially talked about getting married on 7-7-2007 but didn't have our act together so we looked for the next best day.  we chose 8-8 (year 2007) due to the symbolism of the number eight and for the ease of remembering our anniversary (which obviously didn't work).  

the number eight is very auspicious in feng shui and Chinese culture -- it represents wealth, abundance, joy and infinite comfort.  ever notice that the number eight is also the symbol for infinity?  the more 8's, the luckier!  of course, it would've been totally cool to have been married on 8-8-2008 but that would've meant waiting another year and competing with the hundreds of other people who wanted to be married on this same day.    

anywho, i was a bit shocked that i didn't even remotely remember or think about our anniversary.  and then i realized how my priorities have shifted ever since the little tiramisu joined our family.  she is my world and i literally spend every waking minute thinking about her ^_^  everyone says life will never be the same when a child enters your life and after having one of my own, i can totally attest to this!  i never knew how much i could love something until i met my little <3 tiramisu!

after being together for 13 years, we are more practical than sentimental.  skip the flowers and chocolate and put the money towards a bigger diamond!  how's that for practical?!  unfortunately, i didn't get a ring upgrade and we celebrated by having a quick dinner at Roy's Hawaii Kai with a gift card that the hubby found tonight while searching through boxes for something else!  funny.  

oh, about the photo above.  that's Roy's special intestine dish!  it was delicious, even for a pescetarian like me.  nah.  that was actually the hot towel presentation before our appetizers!  the towels are tightly rolled into cylinders and then the server pours hot water over them.  pretty nifty.

ps - the hubby also forgot that it was our anniversary.  but considering he can barely remember what he had for lunch, i guess he's excused.

yogur story

the red carpet waffle

there are a LOT of new restaurants in town!  2010 B.C. (before children), the hubby and i would hit up the new restaurants as soon as they opened!  nowadays, it may take us months before we get to try them out.  i've been reading about "yogur story" for what seems like forever and we finally got to go there tonight!

yes, "yogur" story is missing the "t"...the korean owners didn't realize that they spelled the word wrong until all their branding material was printed up and made.  that's good ol' engrish for you.

you can read all about yogur story here and here.  we went there mainly because i wanted to try the pretty "red carpet waffle" shown above, which is a play on red velvet cake.  the waffle was harder/tougher/chewier than i like.  the taro cream cheese frosting was aight. overall, i think it looked prettier than it tasted.

now that i think about it, i'm not really even a fan of red velvet!  i dunno how red velvet has become the hottest thing since sliced bread.  oh, i think i know...it must've started with the designer cupcake craze...and subsequently, red velvet cupcakes.  my wallet isn't really a fan of $5 cupcakes but if someone buys them for me, i'll eat them!  hah!

the sun is an energy zapper

i was outdoors today for 30 minutes for swim class and 2.5 hours for 9 holes of golf and i am t-i-r-e-d!  this is a short post so i can jump onto my luxurious bamboo sheets on my lovely tempurpedic bed...it's my favorite place to be!  hope your weekend is peachy :)

kokumaro!

i loooove japanese curry and just discovered the best curry block sauce thingee ever while shopping at Marukai...House Foods KOKUMARO CURRY!  not only is the box pretty, but the curry tastes soooo good!  it's the perfect combination of spices & sweetness.

the description on the box says Kokumaro is made by blending two different curry sauces. One is "rich curry" slowly cooked with sautéed onion, garlic and other ingredients. The other is "smooth curry" gently simmered with cheese and chutney.

i made a vegetarian curry with white potatoes, okinawan sweet potatoes, carrots, and onion...and poured it over some grilled tofu and raw baby spinach...and sprinkled white sharp cheddar cheese for some extra yum factor.  it was delish! 

try this Kokumaro stuff and i promise that you will never use S&B Golden Curry again!

ps - i am sparing you from a food photo because curry seems to resemble something that might make you lose your appetite >.<  nah, i ate everything before i even thought about snapping a photo!  it was that good!

@wfmkahala

i borrowed this photo from @wfmkahala.  i really didn't want to take it but the marketing director asked me to and after scoring 4 of the 10 certificates, how could i say no?!

it's a good thing that i postponed my social media challenge to september because i won a $50 gift certificate to @wfmkahala (whole foods market kahala) on twitter! YIPPPPYYY!

@wfmkahala tweeted a few weeks ago that the first 10 followers after 4000 would win a $50 gift certificate. i waited for the follower count to go up and then kinda forgot about it until a few days ago when i just happened to check and saw that it was at 4006.  i quickly followed and suggested that the hubby and some friends do the same.  and what do you know?  we ended up winning 4 of the 10 certs!  YAY!  whole foods is my grocery store of choice so the certs have/will come in very handy!  

btw, aren't those tomatoes gorgeous?!   tomatoes are an excellent source of lycopene, a great anti-oxidant for the body!

things you learn at the mall

outside of my weekly jaunt to costco, i really don't go out much.  i LOVE staying home!  you really can't beat being in "home clothes" all day, bra-less, no makeup, etc. anywho, when the stars align on wednesday mornings, i take the tiramisu to the mall to take part in activities for toddlers.  afterwards, we usually spend about half an hour looking at clothes for her since she seems to be growing taller everyday!

a few weeks ago, i spotted the cutest thing ever.  little leggings that looked like jeans.  they were so adorable (i happen to love all things "miniature") and i knew she needed to have them so i bought a pair.  i removed the tags, washed them, and she wore them out...and then it hit me...JEGGINGS!!!  hahaha. 

i could not believe that i bought jeggings (jeans + leggings = jeggings)!  no offense to any of my loyal three readers if you happen to own a pair.  i really don't know if they're cool/stylish or dorky/outdated because i don't keep up with fashion...but hot damn, i think they're super cute on my baby girl...dontcha think?

the tiramisu is getting braver and braver in public.  today, she walked into hallmark and we ran into my friend and her 19-month old daughter who were playing with these dancing & singing skeletons.  i thought it was kinda cute and funny...and it appeared that the tiramisu felt the same as i watched her shake and what i thought was going to be the prelude to laughter.  instead, her face turned red and she burst out in tears because she was so scared!  i calmed her down and brought her over to the display and pressed the button again thinking that she would think it was funny. oooops.  she cried again.  i think it's those huge, black eyes.  

lesson learned.

pescetarianism

tomorrow marks my five month anniversary of being a pescetarian!
 

who needs "meat" when you can nosh on baby calamari stuffed with blue crab, topped with unagi sauce and roasted sesame seeds and served with freshly ground wasabi?! this was part of our delicious omakase dinner at the new Kona Kai Sushi!  (this dish is very similar to that served at Sushi Sasabune, one of my favorite sushi restaurants! the sushi chef at Kona Kai used to work at Sasabune.)

so how did this all come about?!

after heffering a HUGE meat-based yakiniku meal on March 2, i decided to stop eating "meat" -- no beef, pork, chicken, turkey, etc. i really didn't know how long i could go without consuming land animals, especially since i always look for meat (if i'm not eating fish) at every meal.  surprisingly, it's actually been pretty easy despite the fact that everyone else in my family (parents, hubby, dog and baby) consumes meat!  

while it makes me sad that i may never have another fried pork chop, juicy ribeye steak or a delectable spam musubi, i still have tons of protein choices from the sea along with tofu!  and i loooooooove me some good sushi!  i also love that i no longer feel sluggish after meals.

the one downside is that i have to watch how much fish i consume for fear of heavy metal (ie, mercury) poisoning!  do you know that the maximum consumption of fish for adults is no more than two card-deck sized servings of fish a week?!!  i used to eat that much ahi poke in one meal!  one way to curb the mercury is to eat smaller fish since they're lower in the food chain -- look for fish that will fit in a standard frying pan from head to tail!  and salmon is also a great choice for its omega-3s and being a freshwater fish, it's supposed to be lower in mercury.  

while i'm on the topic of fish, i just started the dog on fish oil!  she's not thrilled about it but her holistic vet recommended it after a recent visit.  i'll talk this and his other recommendations in another blog.